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Refugees in Afghanistan
When the bombs started dropping!

Terrorists attacks in the USA and the bombing of Afghanistan

What prompts our interest in this issue?

Four significant events have come together to prompt our interest in this issue.

Terrorists attacks in the USA

First, on September the 11th 2001 terrorists attacked the USA. They destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and attacked and severely damaged the Pentagon in Washington. These attacks resulted in more than 6000 people from the USA and an estimated 80 other countries, including Australia, being killed or injured. This was the largest loss of life that the USA had ever experienced in one day and was the first time that the USA had been attacked since the surprise raid on Pearl Harbour, by the Japanese, on the 7th December 1941. Subsequent to these attacks the terrorists were identified as being part of the extremist Islamic group, al-Qáida headed by Osama bin Laden. The terrorists were said to be hiding in Afghanistan where they were protected by the fundamentalist Islamic group, the Taliban (only recognised by three countries as the legitimate government of Afghanistan).

The bombing of Afghanistan

Second, on the 7th October 2001 bombs and missiles from planes, ships and a submarine were dropped on Afghanistan by the military forces of the USA and Great Britain. This was the first day of an extended period of bombing. The Australian Government supported these attacks as well as a coalition of other nations [particularly those countries that are members of the North American Treaty Organisation (NATO)].

The cruise missiles and laser guided bombs were targeted at:

  • Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan - the airport and the Taliban Defence Ministry
  • Kandahar, the spiritual centre of the Taliban - the airport and the Taliban command centre
  • Jalalabad, the closest city to the eastern border with Pakistan - the airport
  • Konduz, a northern city - a Taliban military base
  • Mazar-e Sharif, a northern city near the border with Uzbekistan - a Taliban store of weapons
  • Herat, a western city near the border with Iran - an oil refinery

Background for Teachers and Students
An overview

The information and activities here benefit from frequent references to good atlases. The topics mentioned here are well covered in the Heinemann Atlas Third Edition and Heinemann eAtlas.

Specifically refer to pages 132-133 (South Asia), 150-151 (Eurasia), 182 (World conflicts), 200-201(World population movements), 206 (Gross National Product per capita, 1997), 207 (Human Development Index, 1997), 208 (Religion), 209 (Literacy and Changing literacy levels - particularly a comparison of male and female populations) and 212 (Linguistic families and subfamilies).

These pages update an issue from the book Hazards, 1997, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne (chapter 2 "The Hazard Jigsaw" page 40-49) through reference to: Heinemann Atlas Third Edition and Heinemann eAtlas, 2000, Heinemann, Melbourne.

Enquiry questions

To assist in the study of the issue of refugees in Afghanistan students and teachers may choose to follow the six broad enquiry questions listed below, or the more specific enquiry questions that are used as headings for each section. It is important to realise that these are not the only questions that can be asked about this issue.

Also, it should be kept in mind that it may not be possible to provide comprehensive answers to all these questions. They are simply a guide to any investigation of this issue.

In the 1997 edition of Hazards (page 20) students were encouraged to examine the issue of refugees in Ethiopia and consider the following enquiry questions

  • What is at this place and why?
  • How and why has the issue arisen?
  • When do these events mostly occur there (chronology/sequence)?
  • Who uses this place?
  • What conflicts are involved in this issue?
  • How would you justify your stand?

    • On Tuesday November 13th fighters of what became known as the opposition Northern Alliance, shouting "God is great" and waving the black, green and white Afghan flag, seized control of the Afghanistan capital Kabul. The North

    ern Alliance was supported by the coalition of military forces of Australia, USA, Great Britain and other European countries.

    By the end of 2001 the Taliban and al-Qáida armed forces had lost control of Afghanistan. A coalition of Afghan groups formed a post-Taliban interim government. The form of this interim government was negotiated between the parties and brokered by western powers at a meeting in Bonn, Germany.

    Airdrops of emergency aid in Afghanistan

    Third, coinciding with the dropping of bombs and missiles the USA conducted air drops of food and medicines to refugees massed on Afghanistan's borders. This humanitarian operation was coordinated in such a way as to emphasise the USA's stance that the bombs and missiles were aimed at the Taliban and not the Afghan people. The Australian Government supported the USA in the provision of this emergency aid.

    Refugee week in Australia

    Fourth, Refugee Week (October 8th to 14th 2001) was taking place in Australia at exactly the same time as the first wave of bombs fell on Afghanistan. In an official Australian Government publication, Focus [the news magazine of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)], September 2001, page 16, Refugee Week was identified as:

    "a good time for teachers to encourage students to reflect on the personal and emotional realities of being a refugee".

    Students were also encouraged to:

    "learn about the factors that cause men, women and children to become refugees or displaced within their own country".

    It was explained that:

    "it is difficult to know the depth of a refugee's despair. No permanent home. No state or government protection. Few job prospects. And an identity explicitly tied to being a refugee rather than a person who once had a home, a nationality or an ethnic identity".

     

    What did the newspapers report about the air drops of emergency food aid?

    In The Australian newspaper of 9/10/01 the cartoonist Bill Leak showed the dual USA response as a cartoon titled "Humanitarian Aid". The cartoon depicted a USA bomber with missiles being dropped from the bomb bay while sacks of potatoes were being dispatched from the rear door. The comment from the air-force person at the door read "You-all want fries with those?..". The dual USA response continued as a theme on 10/10/01. In the two frame cartoon titled "The Second Wave", Bill Leak's first frame showed an Afghani ducking below a missile with a balloon comment "Phew!!..That was close..". In the second frame an Afghani is hit by a "food aid" bag of rice with a balloon comment "THUD!" One supposedly precise USA airdrop was dropped more than 16 kilometres from the refugee camp. The yellow packages landed in the desert and were collected by wealthy people who had access to vehicles. The packs were sold in the town bazaars for the price of a loaf of bread.

    "The air drops... left many Afghans bewildered...with the peanut butter and jam (came) packets of biscuits, which (were) pulverised on impact...one Kabul resident said "What do you do with this peanut butter and jam? I had it for dinner last night and now I have a terrible stomach-ache"" (Source: Oliver August, "Aids drops drive the Afghans nuts", The Australian, 17/10/01, page 8.)

    Aid workers who had been in Afghanistan for many years said that the USA food drops were unlikely to reach the most at-risk groups - the ISP's (Internally Stranded People).

    "they threaten(ed) to undermine years of hard work and goodwill that the aid community had built up before the bombing started...to confuse a military operation with the delivery of humanitarian aid (was) unhelpful...it (was) important that the players (aid workers) involved remain impartial, but the main issue (was) that humanitarian assistance need(ed) to be assured." (Source: John Zubrzycki, "Next winter's grim harvest", The Australian, 17/10/01, page 8.)

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